At what was billed as an “historic” presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun.

Ahead of a meeting with President Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine noted that Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukrainian land became “a springboard for a new attack.”

President Donald Trump on Sunday night declared that Kyiv would not be regaining Moscow-annexed Crimea, nor would it be allowed to join NATO.

Trump will meet the Ukrainian leader, along with several European heads of state and the NATO Secretary-General, on Monday.

The last time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was inside the Oval Office, he was berated by his US hosts, denied a planned luncheon and abruptly asked to leave the West Wing.

European leaders are to join the Ukrainian president during a visit that seeks a path to ending the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are among leaders who will join Zelensky in Washington for talks on how to end the war with Russia.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected the premise of this question from CBS "Face The Nation" host Margaret Brennan about Trump's meetings last week with Vladimir Putin and next week with Volodymyr Zelensky: Brennan asked: "You know,

European leaders will try and help Ukraine’s president at the White House by convincing Trump to get off the dangerous path laid out for him by Vladimir Putin.